ADVANCE ABACUS PROGRAMME

Abacus is an instrument that was invented some 2500 years ago primarily in China, which later on spread through countries like Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia etc. It was used in the ancient times for calculating numbers through basic arithmetic system. It has now been proven as a complete brain development tool over last two decades.

Abacus became popular over the world after being transformed from a calculating instrument into a system having immense power to benefit children of small ages by expanding the brain usage, in addition to making maths learning easy and effective.

The image displayed is that of a structure of an abacus.

An abacus instrument allows performing basic operations like Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. It can also carry out operations such as counting up to decimal places, calculates sums having negative numbers etc.

Abacus – Introduction

The abacus is a mechanical aid used for counting. It is not a calculator in a sense we use. The use of abacus improves the ability to calculate both on abacus and mentally. It also provides a beneficial ripple effect on another discipline.

Improvement of numerical memory.

Improvement of memory in remembering images.

Progress in solving general mathematical problems taught in elementary schools.

Using abacus requires co-ordination of the main nerves of the human body such as sight and finger movement, which will induce the growth of brain cells. The human mind undergoes three stages throughout the process namely:

(1) Physical Contact (2) Logical Explanation (3) Visualization

Here the abacus acts as a bridge that connects three stages.

The ABAX is a Greek name, which means calculating board or calculating table. The Chinese Abacus was invented during the Yuang Dynasty, 1280-1368 A.D (3000 years ago). Abacus is referred to as the first computer, the abacus is used to add, subtract, multiply and divide, as well as figuring fractions and square roots.

The abacus is a mechanical aid used for counting. The use of Abacus in teaching children simple mathematics gives marvelous results. The abacus is an excellent tool for memorization of multiplication tables. The abacus is an excellent substitute for teaching other base numbering systems since it easily adapts itself to any base with little modifications. The abacus does not actually do the computing, as today’s calculators do. It helps children to keep track of numbers as they do the computing. Children who are good at Abacus can often do calculations quickly as a person who is using a calculator. Abacus is now accepted and practiced in several countries China – principally, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, India, and other countries in Middle East. This helps children far better in all areas where learning is required.

What is Abacus?

Abacus is the oldest calculating device known to man. Abacus was used to perform arithmetic calculations before the adoption of the written numerical system.

Abacus has been called the ‘first computer’. It consists of a frame, rods, and beads, with each rod representing a different place value. Each of the beads represents a number, and can be moved along the rods. Abacus techniques are among the fastest ways of doing calculations, especially those involving large numbers.

For the last two decades, abacus has gained popularity as a complete brain development tool, especially for young children. Abacus aids math teachers by making the teaching experience fun and effective.

Offers opportunities for children to excel in Mathematics from an early age

Provides a solid foundation for learning the language of maths for children aged 4 to 13

Dynamic and interactive program offers children an opportunity to develop a variety of other skills such as concentration, logical thinking, improved comprehension, listening skills and sound reasoning skills

Increases confidence and self-esteem

Increases problem solving abilities

Enhances photographic memory

Makes maths fun and enjoyable

What is 2347 + 7895? Looking up your Smartphone or calculator? Did you know that a six-year- old can figure this out within minutes without the use of a material aid? That’s the power of abacus training.

Abacus training focuses on the development of mental calculation capabilities and ensures that the child understands the basic number system thoroughly. With abacus training now available in major cities in India, more parents are choosing abacus as a STEM subject for their child.

SOROBAN & Right Brain

Recent studies have shown that the abacus method of mental calculation is effective in the development of the right brain. At first, this idea was only a hypothesis, but the recent development of high-tech machinery has helped provide tangible research data. In this section, we will present information provided by researchers who study the effects of abacus training.

Anatomy

The general conception of the people about mental arithmetic is all about the magic of Numbers & Science of logic. The student would be able to maintain calm and have full concentration.

Thus, achieving the total growth of both mental and intelligence through the calculation of numbers, synergy of left and right brain is needed when performing mental arithmetic calculation. It is also a key to the development of intelligence. Therefore, mental arithmetic is not a technique of calculation, but rather training for the development of intelligence.

Using the well-organized and challenging-enhanced methodology. Challenger’s programs help children quickly improve their ability to calculate as much as 2 to 10 times faster. We have results where children have improved their IQ by 5 to 25% after completion of challenger’s programs. The challenger’s offers whole brain development program with the help of Abacus. Abacus is used to doing calculations.

The Human brain consists of right-brain and the left-brain. The left-brain controls reading and writing, calculating, and logical thinking. The right brain controls three- dimensional sense, creativity, and artistic senses. The right brain is used to recognize images, figures and music. The right brain has a “high-speed, high-capacity memory” mechanism.

It is also natural that, because of the better development in their right brain, students in western countries are more creative. In order to foster this type of environment to make use of right brain extensively, we need to develop an education system that would train the students’ right brain first. Children can achieve calculation speed with accuracy by practicing with the help of Abacus tool. The Children manipulates the abacus beads in their head to carry out a calculation. The children learn how to perform all basic maths using an imaginary abacus (mental math with abacus rules).

This way the photographic memory, listening skills and concentration are enhanced.

Benefits of Abacus Training

Abacus training helps develop a strong and stable mind. It makes students confident not only in maths but in other aspects of life as well.

Specifically, abacus training can help your child in the following ways.

Build a concrete foundation for mathematics: Mathematics can be a puzzle to some. However, learning abacus builds a firm understanding of maths right from the formative years. With the visual aid of an abacus, all abstract concepts of math are transferred to tangible beads. Children have to count the beads, and this develops their hand-eye coordination. With practice, the child develops an image of the abacus in his/her head to perform mental maths. Overall, it is a fun way to get introduced to more complex mathematics.

Encourages the use of right side of the brain: The left side of the brain focuses on the analysis of information. The right side of the brain focuses on visualization, creativity and thinking. Usually, the left temporal region is used for performing mathematical calculations with pen and paper. Abacus training stimulates the right side of the brain, thereby improving your child’s ability to memorize, visualize, and observe.

Develops logical understanding: Over time, children develop the ability to imagine an abacus in their mind and to make mental calculations. When a child visualizes the maths question on the imaginary abacus, he/she has to think and apply logic to do the correct movement of beads in mind. Repeatedly performing mental math builds their ability to apply logic in other day-to- day life scenarios a well.

Improved understanding of math: Research has shown that advanced abacus learners are better at solving certain types of mathematical problems compared to those who were not trained in abacus. Abacus training improves the child’s capability of solving mathematical problems with integers, decimals, and fractions, and problems requiring higher level of logical thinking.

Improves concentration: In a study conducted by the Decker Avenue School, California, researchers analyzed the effects of abacus training on children in a classroom. It was found that the students who received abacus training showed a significant improvement in concentration levels.

Improves memory and visualization: A two-year long study titled “The Effect of Abacus Training on Chinese Children's Mental Calculation” showed that the abacus learners had better auditory and visual memory compared to non- abacus learners. Another research has shown that abacus learning can improve visualization, which is attributed to the fact that abacus students visualize an abacus in their mind. The visualization ability is useful to students in other fields of study as well.

When a child works on abacus it uses both its hand to move the beads. The finger movement of both hands activates the sensors of brain, the right hand coordinates with left brain and the left hand coordinates with right brain.

This facilitates the functioning of "The whole brain" and helps in added intellect, thereby creating 'child maths prodigy'.

Visualization: Abacus users simply visualize an image of abacus in their head. They do not replace the image into words. This difference can be seen clearly in the EEGs.

What is important is that the ability to visualize can be put to use for other subjects…

Concentration: The effects of abacus training on children in the classroom. The study indicated that increased concentration of the abacus students was one of the pre- dominating effects of the training program.

Logical reasoning: Advanced abacus learners were found to have received desirable effects in solving certain types of mathematical problems compared to non- abacus learners. In addition, a positive effect was seen, not only in mathematical problems with integers and decimals, but also in those with fractions, especially when higher level of logical thinking is required to solve them.

Photographic memory: The beneficial effect of abacus training is the improvement in memory...

As a result, abacus learners were found to score higher than non-abacus learners. It can be speculated that the training to obtain the abacus image visually had the effect of making students sensitive towards spatial arrangement or enhanced photographic memory…

Recall: “Some abacus experts use their ability for memorizing whole page of textbook or years in history. The ability developed by abacas can be used effectively in different ways” such as the capability to recall.

While we all want our kids to achieve greatness in life, it’s important to acknowledge that early childhood is the most crucial growing period of a human life in terms of emotional, intellectual, physical and social development. While it’s a scientific fact that human brain growth is at its peak potential in early childhood, it’s also a fact that all children process information differently. No child is the same, and while some children learn better through reading, others learn better through doing – which brings us to the topic of maths!

Let’s be honest, kids don’t like maths. In fact, according to research, most adults loathe it too. Interestingly, many adults feel that if they could have been exposed to a smarter way of learning maths as a child, then their outlook would be a far more pleasant one. For most kids, maths is extremely difficult and boring, and unless an interest is taken in learning it from a young age, they will always have a love-hate relationship with it. So how do we get our kids interested in learning maths? One of the best and most successful proven ways in which to make the subject of maths more attractive and interesting is with abacus maths.

Largely determined by our external environment, rather than our genes, every human has the same chance of maximizing their intelligence. We are all born with an immature brain, which is why using the right learning tools in early childhood development is so important. So why not give your little one a chance in life and enroll them in a school that offers abacus maths. To learn more about FasTracKids and abacus maths, chat to us today.

Understanding the Human Brain

The human brain is a complex organ that allows us to think, move, feel, see, hear, taste, and smell.

The human brain is a Complex organ that allows us to THINK, MOVE, FEEL, SEE, HEAR, TASTE and SMELL.

At birth, the human brain weighs less than a pound (0.78-0.88 pounds or 350-400 g). As a child grows, the number of cell remains relatively stable, but the cells grow in size and the number of connections increases. The human brain reaches its full size at about 6 YEARS of AGE.

The BRAIN consists of GRAY MATTER (40%) and WHITE MATTER (60%) contained within the skull.

Brain cells include NEURONS and GLIAL CELLS. The brain has THREE main PARTS: the CEREBRUM, the CEREBELLUM, and the BRAIN STEM (MEDULLA).

The brain produces electrical signals which, together with Chemical Reactions, let the parts of the body communicate. Nerves send these signals throughout the body. The brain is the source of all our behavior, thoughts, feelings and experiences. And used for different activities like Memory, language, problem solving etc.

Development of Right Brain

The human brain consists of the right brain and the left brain. In the abacus method of mental calculation, the learners manipulate abacus beads in their head to carry out a calculation.

The shapes of these two parts are similar, but differences have been gradually found in their functions. The left brain is also referred to as the digital brain. It controls reading and writing, calculation, and logical thinking. The right brain is referred to as the analog brain. It controls three-dimensional sense, creativity, and artistic senses.

Both the brains work together to allow us to function as humans. In the abacus method of mental calculation, the learners manipulate abacus beads in their head to carry out a calculation. This had led us to speculate that this operation was effective in training the right brain or the analog brain.

Not only for the experts but also for the beginners, abacus learning is useful to easily grasp images in addition and subtraction problems, because the beads are moving in front of their eyes. It also allows understanding the decimal system and the concept of digit positions.

Once children understand numbers, they will probably become fond of mathematics. They will be more confident there may be many positive impacts in other subjects at school.

The Challenger’s mental math programs are designed to improve not only child’s calculating ability and understanding of mathematics, but also to increase the memory power and creativity, the concentration level and the listening skill, as well as the ability to analyze problem. Our ultimate goal is to build child’s confidence level in their schoolwork and social life.

Benefits to Parents

The abacus mental arithmetic training helps the students in a very unique way by developing their intellectual level. It is able to improve the calculation ability of the student in a very short period and enhance the interest, personality and determination of the student.

Less stress on the parents.

Children will be able to compete internationally and will win accolades not only in mental computation but academically because the love and the ability to learn are being nurtured in the early years.

Early inputs help in making the child self- sufficient and responsible.

Challenger’s programme is for the normal child, helping you discover the potential within.

Course Duration

Challenger’s mental math programs are of two levels having four terms each. Each term is of 3 months duration. First level is compulsory. Second level is optional. A Student can leave the course after one year as all the basic things like Addition, Substraction, Multiplication and Division will be covered in that duration.

TOOL USED Abacus.
CLASS Weekly (2 Hours)
TIME DURATION One Year (Basic Course) | One year (Advanced Course)
AGE GROUP 5-14 years

OUR MISSION

Our main mission is to provide the best/latest advanced technology, skills and knowledge to the children which is necessary to stay them ahead in this competitive world as Challengers itself means: